Month: October 2012

Although she’s not really gone. Not quite yet. It’s still raining, and raw, and windy. Transportation is broadly affected and the clean up efforts will keep her on everyone’s mind for a long long time.

The damage is unbelievable. I am shocked at the loss and devastation across so many states.

If you live anywhere on this planet, most likely you have seen a few news reports, and so you are aware of the unprecedented mess. With each photo I am stunned …. until I see the next one. Truly extraordinary.

And let me take this opportunity to thank all my blog reader/friends for the kind thoughts and well wishes as I “signed off” a few days ago. It is really amazing to me how we have formed our own community-of-the-world, here in the blog-o-sphere. I never expected these reach-outs from around the world when I started to blog, but I am so grateful for them now. Thank you, everyone.

The damage in my area has been primarily downed trees and tree limbs. Everyone’s property is thoroughly littered with branches and leaves and miscellaneous debris. (I found several hunks of styrofoam?) There are hundreds of thousands of people still without power in our local utility area.

As we tried to leave my neighborhood this morning, we were thwarted at every turn with another tree blocking the road.

This week, my “Weekend Distraction” has been preempted by Mother Nature because she is offering up a huge distraction of her own.

Those of us who live in the Northeastern part of the United States are about to get clobbered by a storm that the media has dubbed “Frankenstorm”.

Apparently, the hurricane that is coming up the east coast is going to strengthen, increase in size, combine with other weathery things and then EXPLODE into an enormous storm. This is a “Perfect Storm” scenario (like the movie) except this storm will happen over land. “Unprecedented”, they say.

Here is a sampling of the warnings we are receiving:

* “We looking at one of the worst storms on record that we’ve seen in this region,” said Carl Parker, hurricane specialist for The Weather Channel.

* The resulting storm “will be like a nor’easter with a hurricane embedded in it,” said Bryan Norcross, hurricane specialist for The Weather Channel.

* “We’re not trying to hype it,” National Weather Service meterologist Paul Kocin tells Bloomberg News. “What we’re seeing in some of our models is a storm at an intensity that we have not seen in this part of the country in the past century.”

* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco said: “We don’t have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting.”

* “The Perfect Storm only did $200 million of damage and I’m thinking a billion” this time, Masters said. “Yeah, it will be worse.”

We are being warned that it is highly likely that we will have major power outages for a significant amount of time. (The storm itself is expected to last for days. Yes, you read that right… days!) They are warning of power outages that will last a week or more.

Since I live right in the middle of the predicted mess, I am contemplating my life without power. (We do not have a generator). No power means no cooking, no heat, no refrigerator, no freezer, no (gasp) blogging!!!

And then there is the internet. It is fickle under the best of circumstances, so I’m sure a “Frankenstorm” will be a great excuse for it to quit. (I guess what I’m saying is that I might not be around for a few days.)

If you live in the Northeast, it is time for you to prepare. Once you are buckled down, have your batteries, water and other supples, there are a few apps you might want to add to your emergency kit.

My dear friend alerted me to an app from the American Red Cross designed for emergency preparedness. (thank you, Mona!) Although this app is called Hurricane by American Red Cross, it is really much more than that. It is a great app to have on hand for all severe weather.

It includes emergency plans, shelter locators, radar information, notifications of warnings in your area (I woke up to a notification of a flood watch) and … a tool kit, with a strobe light, flashlight and a loud alarm to signal for help.

The American Red Cross also has a fine First Aid App, and it pairs nicely with the one, above. It also includes emergency plans.

Best of all, the content is contained ON your device, so even if you lose your connection to the internet you still have the step by step emergency information.

While you do still have electricity, make sure you keep your devices on full charge, so when the power goes out you’ll have maximum usage.

A car charger can be a big help (if you have a car🙂 ). When the power goes out, you can charge up your phone from your car. I plan to pick up a car charger on Saturday as part of my preparing for this storm.

Note to owners of e-readers: Charge them up! There may be some long, powerless nights ahead for a lot of reading time.

Even if you are not part of this, uh, “adventure”, both of these Red Cross Apps are FREE and full of good information.

If you are about to watch this video and you are at work, you could be in danger. It is laugh-out-loud funny, and most likely your work is not. Therefore, when you start to giggle, your Boss will be alerted that you are not studying your spreadsheets. 🙂

This video has been around about a month, ever since the release of the iPhone 5. Over 7 million views.

It is made to look like a real iPhone commercial …. the style, that is.

Wonderful, wonderful satire.

The new iPhone is taller than the last one, and this video introduces the viewer to this change.

Today Apple broke the long-anticipated news: the iPad Mini is no longer just a rumor. It is real, it is ready and I’m guessing it will be a big seller for the Holiday Season. (Apple also dished a surprise: a new regular iPad. More on that, later.)

The iPad Mini looks wonderful.

It is a smaller, lighter and therefore more PORTABLE version of the iPad. The display is set so that all apps will display perfectly, and therefore it is ready to go, no app updates necessary.

Let’s look at a few specifics:

It has all the wonderful-ness of a regular iPad, only it is all wrapped up in a smaller package. You can use Facetime, all your apps, the cameras, read books, surf the web, watch movies and enjoy a battery life of TEN HOURS. (Happily portable enough to be helpfully distracting for a long uncomfortable plane ride.) You can store photos and take movies. You can send and receive email. And as you do all you want to do, Siri will be available to help. (I regularly ask her now to make reminders and notes for me and she is surprisingly accurate with her efforts.)

The iPad Mini uses the new lightning connector. This connector is reversible. You can’t make a mistake and plug it in incorrectly. (This connector is on the iPhone 5 and since I’ve been using it I can say that I like it… a lot. I was always concerned that I would make a mistake with the old connector. I think the new connector is a fine improvement.)

The iPad Mini has a 7.9 inch display. This is a sweet, sweet size. Big enough to be comfortable on the eyes, but small enough to allow the device to fit easily in your hand.

And just the perfect size to throw in a purse.

The Mini is pencil thin, and weighs only a bit over a half pound. .68 lb, to be exact.

The iPad Mini is available in black or white.

The price was the biggest surprise, and not in a good way. The iPad Mini has been priced more expensively than the rumor-makers were suggesting:

For WiFi only, the 16GB is $329, the 32 GB is $429, and the 64GB is $529

For WiFi + Cellular, the 16GB is $459, the 32GB is $559, and the 64GB is $659

Now the comparisons begin. How will this stack up against the Kindle Fire? Most people agree that the iPad is by far a better device, but price matters….. the question is, how much?

Apple doesn’t think they are competition, at all. Apple’s marketing officer said, “We’re so far ahead of the competition I can’t even see them in the rear-view mirror.”

You can pre-order the Mini iPad starting October 26. The Wi-Fi model will be available for purchase on November 2, and the Wi-Fi + cellular models will be available in the middle of November.

Autumn is my very favorite season. I love the crisp air and the glorious colorful leaves. It is the time of year that I love to take walks. And so yesterday I hit the local rail-trail. (Blog photo above is from yesterday’s walk, taken with the iPhone 5, just a quick snap and no-editing).

I was not alone on the trail. Bikers, walkers and runners were all taking advantage of the perfect day.

There are many wonderful fitness apps, but the one that I thought I’d share today is Couch-to-5k.

If you are a new runner, or someone who is even thinking about running, this app might be something that you would like to try.

All you do is …… touch START.

That’s it! So very easy to use. A human voice will guide you. (You have the choice of 3 virtual coaches). He/she will tell you to walk, and after a while he/she will tell you to run (briefly) and then walk again. Run, then walk, repeat, repeat. For 30 minutes.

The beginning intervals start with just a minute and a half of jogging, followed by 2 minutes of walking, repeat, repeat.

Each week the workout changes somewhat. A subtle increase. A little tiny bit more running, and a little less walking. The intervals of running increase slightly as you gradually improve.

These workouts gently shift your activity from walking to running.

You can play your own music through the app, and you will still hear the voice giving you your prompts.

Personally, I am not ever going to be a runner. I can’t even walk very fast. But I still enjoy the encouraging voice and I use the “running time” to speed up my walk just a bit. It also keeps me honest by walking for a full 30 minutes.

But for someone who would like to run, and needs some help to get started, this app would be incredibly valuable.